Report – After a global SUV, Mahindra’s US technical center working on a global MPV

Posted on: Jun 21, 2014 - 12:48pm IST

Mahindra & Mahindra recently established its North American Technical Centre (MNATC) in Troy, Michigan, the US, to tap the region’s rich automotive talent pool.

Talking to Financial Express, Dr. Pawan Goenka, Executive Director and President, automotive sector, M&M, said that the European R&D operations are on hold but the US Technical Center would develop an all new global UV (which Financial Express learns is an MPV) to go on sale in 2017 starting from India.

Given that a slew of Mahindra SUVs are already in the making, the US-developed product is believed to be a people carrier of the size of the XUV500.

Without divulging much on the UV in question, Dr. Goenka said:

We have hired 35 plus engineers (in the North American Technical Centre) and we are developing a whole new product there that will be launched in 2017. Its in the UV segment and will be sold in the global markets starting from India.

Meanwhile, the Indian UV specialist will be launching new and refreshed products in the domestic market that are taking shape at the Chennai R&D facility (Mahindra Research Valley). Excluding the refreshed Scorpio that is expected to be launched in the coming months, Mahindra has lined up as many as three new UVs till 2016.

The EcoSport rivaling Mahindra S101 compact SUV has been testing intensely ahead of its 2015 debut. A more upmarket UV codenamed S102 which shares its platform with the Ssangyong X100 and the next gen Bolero codenamed U301 are also in the works.

As a toddler, those wheeled machinery fascinated me even before I knew what they’re called as! So here I'm, petrolhead by birth, Mechanical engineer by qualification and automotive reporter by profession!